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Treading dangerously: Lax safety inside Goodyear tire plants

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is among the deadliest manufacturers in the nation for workers – resulting in deaths of five workers since 2015 – and the company’s safety lapses have also contributed to deaths of motorists on the road, a six-month investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.

Tires involved in three fatal accidents were manufactured in Goodyear plants in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Danville, Virginia, where intense production demands and leaks in the roof during storms have endangered both workers and consumers, Reveal’s investigation found.

Police listed a Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor tire – among more than 40,000 tires the company later recalled – as a cause of the crash that killed Matthew Smith and Kerrybeth Hall in West Texas in 2011.

“Use of these tires in severe conditions could result in partial tread separation which could lead to vehicle damage or a motor vehicle crash,” the company stated in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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